youth

As a church that is energized by lively engagement in our faith and life, we offer a variety of opportunities for youth to grow in and explore their faith.

Resources for Faith Formation at home and the COVID-19 pandemic can be found at:

• Ministry Links Online
• ELCA Youth Ministry
• Lutheran Outdoor Ministry
• Sparkhouse Youth Blog
• Beaming Books Blog
• Why Teens May Never Be the Same After the Pandemic from CNN
• The Reality of Covid-19 is Hitting Teens Especially Hard from Wired
• The Pulse of Gen Z in the Time of COVID-19 from DoSomething
• How Teenagers Can Protect Their Mental Health During Coronavirus (COVID-19) from UNICEF
• 5 Ways to Help Teens Manage Anxiety About the Coronavirus from The New York Times
• Apps to Help with Mental Health from Common Sense Media
• To My Fellow 2020 “Graduates”: Some Encouragement From My Middle School Diary from Mockingbird
• Adolescent Stress in the Time of COVID-19: Coping With Loss from Psychology Today
• Social Distancing and Teens: How to Help Kids Deal With Coronavirus Precautions, and What Adults Can Learn From This Connected Generation from Cleveland.com
• COVID-19 Pandemic, Social Distancing, and Adolescence from Psychology Today
• Helping Your Teen With Social Distancing from the Mayo Clinic
• Quaranteenagers: Strategies for Parenting in Close Quarters from The New York Times

Our confirmation program for 8th and 9th graders is an alternating curriculum that introduces students to the Lutheran catechism and living their faith.  We pool our resources with two other ELCA congregations in the area, Calvary in Allendale and Zion in Saddle River.  Our program includes direct instruction, service projects, field trips, lock-ins and retreats.  Each student has their own faith mentor from the congregation who will support them through this two year process.  At the center of our confirmation program are the faith practices of living our baptism that are the promises contained in the liturgy for the Affirmation of Baptism.

Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in holy baptism:
live among God’s faithful people;
hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper;
proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed;
serve all people following the example of Jesus; and
strive for justice and peace in all the earth?”
Response: We do, and ask God to help and guide us.
(Evangelical Lutheran Worship, pg. 236)

High school youth are encouraged to attend weekend retreats and summer camps.  The NJ Synod of the ELCA sponsors high school youth events such as its New Jersey Synod Youth Retreat.  Redeemer sends its youth to the ELCA Youth Gathering.  A powerful event, offered every third year, during which tens of thousands of high school youth and adults converge on a city to serve, worship and learn how to lead lives of discipleship.  The next Youth Gathering will be July 24-July 8, 2022 in Minneapolis, MN.

The ELCA has 26 colleges and universities dedicated to the freedom of inquiry and the development of the whole person in body, mind and spirit. At ELCA colleges and universities, students are educated for a sense of calling or vocation, opening the path toward a meaningful life of contribution to the common good through whatever career they choose.